Short story about an infectious indestructible metal bar?












29















About 15-20 years ago I read a short story (I believe as part of a collection) which as its main plot line featured a metal bar that appeared one day. A guy picked it up and threw it in the recycling. The bar itself was indestructable and unworkable, and any metal that it touched was "infected" to have the same properties after some amount of time. So it damaged the machine that tried to process it for recycling, and turned the metal recycling machine into the same type of metal. And it spread from there.



IIRC this didn't go very well for civilization. I think one of the characters calculated how this might spread rapidly along railways, etc. and committed suicide at the end...maybe?










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  • 1





    If you're interested in this trope see also Cat's Cradle by t Vonnegut.

    – Eric Lippert
    7 hours ago
















29















About 15-20 years ago I read a short story (I believe as part of a collection) which as its main plot line featured a metal bar that appeared one day. A guy picked it up and threw it in the recycling. The bar itself was indestructable and unworkable, and any metal that it touched was "infected" to have the same properties after some amount of time. So it damaged the machine that tried to process it for recycling, and turned the metal recycling machine into the same type of metal. And it spread from there.



IIRC this didn't go very well for civilization. I think one of the characters calculated how this might spread rapidly along railways, etc. and committed suicide at the end...maybe?










share|improve this question







New contributor




Aaron Axvig is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
















  • 1





    If you're interested in this trope see also Cat's Cradle by t Vonnegut.

    – Eric Lippert
    7 hours ago














29












29








29


7






About 15-20 years ago I read a short story (I believe as part of a collection) which as its main plot line featured a metal bar that appeared one day. A guy picked it up and threw it in the recycling. The bar itself was indestructable and unworkable, and any metal that it touched was "infected" to have the same properties after some amount of time. So it damaged the machine that tried to process it for recycling, and turned the metal recycling machine into the same type of metal. And it spread from there.



IIRC this didn't go very well for civilization. I think one of the characters calculated how this might spread rapidly along railways, etc. and committed suicide at the end...maybe?










share|improve this question







New contributor




Aaron Axvig is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.












About 15-20 years ago I read a short story (I believe as part of a collection) which as its main plot line featured a metal bar that appeared one day. A guy picked it up and threw it in the recycling. The bar itself was indestructable and unworkable, and any metal that it touched was "infected" to have the same properties after some amount of time. So it damaged the machine that tried to process it for recycling, and turned the metal recycling machine into the same type of metal. And it spread from there.



IIRC this didn't go very well for civilization. I think one of the characters calculated how this might spread rapidly along railways, etc. and committed suicide at the end...maybe?







story-identification






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Check out our Code of Conduct.











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asked yesterday









Aaron AxvigAaron Axvig

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New contributor





Aaron Axvig is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.






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Check out our Code of Conduct.








  • 1





    If you're interested in this trope see also Cat's Cradle by t Vonnegut.

    – Eric Lippert
    7 hours ago














  • 1





    If you're interested in this trope see also Cat's Cradle by t Vonnegut.

    – Eric Lippert
    7 hours ago








1




1





If you're interested in this trope see also Cat's Cradle by t Vonnegut.

– Eric Lippert
7 hours ago





If you're interested in this trope see also Cat's Cradle by t Vonnegut.

– Eric Lippert
7 hours ago










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















34














This is probably A. E. van Vogt's "Juggernaut" (1944), which was previously asked about and answered here. Though that answer was not accepted, it is almost certainly correct.



The story concerns the mysterious appearance of a bar of what looks like plain steel, which is collected in a wartime scrap metal drive. Metal from the batch including that bar can be shaped as normal steel, but, once fully "set" (which takes about two weeks), it cannot be remelted and has supernatural hardness (i.e. can't be bent at all):




"As you all know, obtaining information from a metallurgist"—he paused
and grinned inoffensively at Nadderly, whom he had invited down—"is
like obtaining blood from a turnip. Mr. Nadderly embodies in his
character and his science all the caution of a Scotchman who realizes
that it’s time he set up the drinks for everybody, but who is waiting
for some of the gang to depart.



"I might as well warn you, gentlemen,
that he is fully aware that any statement he has made on this metal
might be used against him. One of his objections is that thirty days
is a very brief period in the life of an alloy. There is an aluminum
alloy, for instance, that requires forty days to age-harden.



"Mr. Nadderly wishes that stressed because the original hard alloy, which
seems to have been a bar of about two inches square by a foot long,
has in fifteen days imparted its hardness to the rest of the bar, of
which it is a part.



"Gentlemen"—he looked earnestly over the
faces—"the hardness of this metal cannot be stated or estimated. It is
not just so many times harder than chromium or molybdenum steel. It is
hard beyond all calculation.



"Once hardened, it cannot be machined,
not even by tools made of itself. It won’t grind. Diamonds do not even
scratch it. Cannon shells neither dent it nor scratch it. Chemicals
have no effect. No heat we have been able to inflict on it has any
softening effect.



"Two pieces welded together—other metal attaches to
it readily—impart the hardness to the welding. Apparently, any metal,
once hardened by contact with the hard metal, will impart the hardness
to any metal with which it in turn comes into contact.



"The process is
cumulative and endless, though, as I have said, it seems to require
fifteen days. It is during this fortnight that the metal can be
worked.




The cause of the effect is discovered too late and the "infected" metal is too widely distributed to stop its spread. The government intentionally distributes the infected metal into Europe to stop the German war machine.



The story was originally published in the August 1944 edition of Astounding Science Fiction, and can be read online in its entirety courtesy of archive.org.






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    34














    This is probably A. E. van Vogt's "Juggernaut" (1944), which was previously asked about and answered here. Though that answer was not accepted, it is almost certainly correct.



    The story concerns the mysterious appearance of a bar of what looks like plain steel, which is collected in a wartime scrap metal drive. Metal from the batch including that bar can be shaped as normal steel, but, once fully "set" (which takes about two weeks), it cannot be remelted and has supernatural hardness (i.e. can't be bent at all):




    "As you all know, obtaining information from a metallurgist"—he paused
    and grinned inoffensively at Nadderly, whom he had invited down—"is
    like obtaining blood from a turnip. Mr. Nadderly embodies in his
    character and his science all the caution of a Scotchman who realizes
    that it’s time he set up the drinks for everybody, but who is waiting
    for some of the gang to depart.



    "I might as well warn you, gentlemen,
    that he is fully aware that any statement he has made on this metal
    might be used against him. One of his objections is that thirty days
    is a very brief period in the life of an alloy. There is an aluminum
    alloy, for instance, that requires forty days to age-harden.



    "Mr. Nadderly wishes that stressed because the original hard alloy, which
    seems to have been a bar of about two inches square by a foot long,
    has in fifteen days imparted its hardness to the rest of the bar, of
    which it is a part.



    "Gentlemen"—he looked earnestly over the
    faces—"the hardness of this metal cannot be stated or estimated. It is
    not just so many times harder than chromium or molybdenum steel. It is
    hard beyond all calculation.



    "Once hardened, it cannot be machined,
    not even by tools made of itself. It won’t grind. Diamonds do not even
    scratch it. Cannon shells neither dent it nor scratch it. Chemicals
    have no effect. No heat we have been able to inflict on it has any
    softening effect.



    "Two pieces welded together—other metal attaches to
    it readily—impart the hardness to the welding. Apparently, any metal,
    once hardened by contact with the hard metal, will impart the hardness
    to any metal with which it in turn comes into contact.



    "The process is
    cumulative and endless, though, as I have said, it seems to require
    fifteen days. It is during this fortnight that the metal can be
    worked.




    The cause of the effect is discovered too late and the "infected" metal is too widely distributed to stop its spread. The government intentionally distributes the infected metal into Europe to stop the German war machine.



    The story was originally published in the August 1944 edition of Astounding Science Fiction, and can be read online in its entirety courtesy of archive.org.






    share|improve this answer






























      34














      This is probably A. E. van Vogt's "Juggernaut" (1944), which was previously asked about and answered here. Though that answer was not accepted, it is almost certainly correct.



      The story concerns the mysterious appearance of a bar of what looks like plain steel, which is collected in a wartime scrap metal drive. Metal from the batch including that bar can be shaped as normal steel, but, once fully "set" (which takes about two weeks), it cannot be remelted and has supernatural hardness (i.e. can't be bent at all):




      "As you all know, obtaining information from a metallurgist"—he paused
      and grinned inoffensively at Nadderly, whom he had invited down—"is
      like obtaining blood from a turnip. Mr. Nadderly embodies in his
      character and his science all the caution of a Scotchman who realizes
      that it’s time he set up the drinks for everybody, but who is waiting
      for some of the gang to depart.



      "I might as well warn you, gentlemen,
      that he is fully aware that any statement he has made on this metal
      might be used against him. One of his objections is that thirty days
      is a very brief period in the life of an alloy. There is an aluminum
      alloy, for instance, that requires forty days to age-harden.



      "Mr. Nadderly wishes that stressed because the original hard alloy, which
      seems to have been a bar of about two inches square by a foot long,
      has in fifteen days imparted its hardness to the rest of the bar, of
      which it is a part.



      "Gentlemen"—he looked earnestly over the
      faces—"the hardness of this metal cannot be stated or estimated. It is
      not just so many times harder than chromium or molybdenum steel. It is
      hard beyond all calculation.



      "Once hardened, it cannot be machined,
      not even by tools made of itself. It won’t grind. Diamonds do not even
      scratch it. Cannon shells neither dent it nor scratch it. Chemicals
      have no effect. No heat we have been able to inflict on it has any
      softening effect.



      "Two pieces welded together—other metal attaches to
      it readily—impart the hardness to the welding. Apparently, any metal,
      once hardened by contact with the hard metal, will impart the hardness
      to any metal with which it in turn comes into contact.



      "The process is
      cumulative and endless, though, as I have said, it seems to require
      fifteen days. It is during this fortnight that the metal can be
      worked.




      The cause of the effect is discovered too late and the "infected" metal is too widely distributed to stop its spread. The government intentionally distributes the infected metal into Europe to stop the German war machine.



      The story was originally published in the August 1944 edition of Astounding Science Fiction, and can be read online in its entirety courtesy of archive.org.






      share|improve this answer




























        34












        34








        34







        This is probably A. E. van Vogt's "Juggernaut" (1944), which was previously asked about and answered here. Though that answer was not accepted, it is almost certainly correct.



        The story concerns the mysterious appearance of a bar of what looks like plain steel, which is collected in a wartime scrap metal drive. Metal from the batch including that bar can be shaped as normal steel, but, once fully "set" (which takes about two weeks), it cannot be remelted and has supernatural hardness (i.e. can't be bent at all):




        "As you all know, obtaining information from a metallurgist"—he paused
        and grinned inoffensively at Nadderly, whom he had invited down—"is
        like obtaining blood from a turnip. Mr. Nadderly embodies in his
        character and his science all the caution of a Scotchman who realizes
        that it’s time he set up the drinks for everybody, but who is waiting
        for some of the gang to depart.



        "I might as well warn you, gentlemen,
        that he is fully aware that any statement he has made on this metal
        might be used against him. One of his objections is that thirty days
        is a very brief period in the life of an alloy. There is an aluminum
        alloy, for instance, that requires forty days to age-harden.



        "Mr. Nadderly wishes that stressed because the original hard alloy, which
        seems to have been a bar of about two inches square by a foot long,
        has in fifteen days imparted its hardness to the rest of the bar, of
        which it is a part.



        "Gentlemen"—he looked earnestly over the
        faces—"the hardness of this metal cannot be stated or estimated. It is
        not just so many times harder than chromium or molybdenum steel. It is
        hard beyond all calculation.



        "Once hardened, it cannot be machined,
        not even by tools made of itself. It won’t grind. Diamonds do not even
        scratch it. Cannon shells neither dent it nor scratch it. Chemicals
        have no effect. No heat we have been able to inflict on it has any
        softening effect.



        "Two pieces welded together—other metal attaches to
        it readily—impart the hardness to the welding. Apparently, any metal,
        once hardened by contact with the hard metal, will impart the hardness
        to any metal with which it in turn comes into contact.



        "The process is
        cumulative and endless, though, as I have said, it seems to require
        fifteen days. It is during this fortnight that the metal can be
        worked.




        The cause of the effect is discovered too late and the "infected" metal is too widely distributed to stop its spread. The government intentionally distributes the infected metal into Europe to stop the German war machine.



        The story was originally published in the August 1944 edition of Astounding Science Fiction, and can be read online in its entirety courtesy of archive.org.






        share|improve this answer















        This is probably A. E. van Vogt's "Juggernaut" (1944), which was previously asked about and answered here. Though that answer was not accepted, it is almost certainly correct.



        The story concerns the mysterious appearance of a bar of what looks like plain steel, which is collected in a wartime scrap metal drive. Metal from the batch including that bar can be shaped as normal steel, but, once fully "set" (which takes about two weeks), it cannot be remelted and has supernatural hardness (i.e. can't be bent at all):




        "As you all know, obtaining information from a metallurgist"—he paused
        and grinned inoffensively at Nadderly, whom he had invited down—"is
        like obtaining blood from a turnip. Mr. Nadderly embodies in his
        character and his science all the caution of a Scotchman who realizes
        that it’s time he set up the drinks for everybody, but who is waiting
        for some of the gang to depart.



        "I might as well warn you, gentlemen,
        that he is fully aware that any statement he has made on this metal
        might be used against him. One of his objections is that thirty days
        is a very brief period in the life of an alloy. There is an aluminum
        alloy, for instance, that requires forty days to age-harden.



        "Mr. Nadderly wishes that stressed because the original hard alloy, which
        seems to have been a bar of about two inches square by a foot long,
        has in fifteen days imparted its hardness to the rest of the bar, of
        which it is a part.



        "Gentlemen"—he looked earnestly over the
        faces—"the hardness of this metal cannot be stated or estimated. It is
        not just so many times harder than chromium or molybdenum steel. It is
        hard beyond all calculation.



        "Once hardened, it cannot be machined,
        not even by tools made of itself. It won’t grind. Diamonds do not even
        scratch it. Cannon shells neither dent it nor scratch it. Chemicals
        have no effect. No heat we have been able to inflict on it has any
        softening effect.



        "Two pieces welded together—other metal attaches to
        it readily—impart the hardness to the welding. Apparently, any metal,
        once hardened by contact with the hard metal, will impart the hardness
        to any metal with which it in turn comes into contact.



        "The process is
        cumulative and endless, though, as I have said, it seems to require
        fifteen days. It is during this fortnight that the metal can be
        worked.




        The cause of the effect is discovered too late and the "infected" metal is too widely distributed to stop its spread. The government intentionally distributes the infected metal into Europe to stop the German war machine.



        The story was originally published in the August 1944 edition of Astounding Science Fiction, and can be read online in its entirety courtesy of archive.org.







        share|improve this answer














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        edited yesterday

























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